Are Renewable Energy Sources Really More Expensive Than Fossil Fuels?

A while back I did an analysis of the cost that importing oil in South Africa has on its economy. This analysis only took into account the foreign currency costs but it did not look at the subsidies that fossil fuels receive from government sources. A recent study titled “Government subsidies for dirty power dwarf support for clean energy“ produced by Bloomberg New Energy Finance found that fossil fuels receive ten times more subsidies than renewable energy. This is mind boggling especially when one considers the additional cost to tax payers that oil spills and health costs have on large populations as a result of fossil fuels. If one were to fact these costs in, we would have reached price parity between fossil fuels and renewable energy many years ago.

•